Headlight adapter



y 1947- D. M. MORGENSTERN 2,423,153

HEADLIGET ADAPTER Filed Feb. 9, 1945 INVENTOR.

Dav/HM. Nog'mferxr BY 4W MM Patented July 1, 1947 2,423,153 HEAQLIGHT ADABTER c ler st i l-Messsn mr q sys eea O ie Applieationl ebruary 9, IQ LS Ser ial No. 517-6 93 ain. wen-a This. invention. is an; adapteriorconverting, an obsolete construction, of automobile. headlight into. one, employing. the, modern. soecalled sealed beam lamp.

A l mnof thekind; referred to. consists of, a seli contained unit in, the, form of; an evacuated g ass. bulb that includesthe lens: and; reflector and perman n -lyv ncloses the; illuminatin filaments, thev samebeing referred; to hereinaiter, asv thelamp, unit. Thernrevaili-ng type of; such unit is characterized by a 'circumi-en tia ead and by locatin lu s. projecting.- rearwardlv fr m. the be d each of; which lii-ss'is flank d, by; earin bosses.

I nmakina the conver ion ll: at is. eta n ft or s nalheadl sht,structumanethe ca in ndthe rim that encirc esthe rontqithe casi T-h ob ct 0 the ntiona s o ptqvide a v y ubst n al: a d: durab e, yet Simplev a d. expensive oc nst uct d' andzr a cd'a to ac li ate nsta lan o that he-co v r i n ofst eheasi s t s er duced a. thi h d ea y o erat on requ n ttle or o, chan e in the retained part i the or g na co str c ion or he u e o ot er oo th n cr w dr ve unl s some li ht change s. re uir d: the. p r-t the. P r ha in to wh h the a ter-i5 tabs qq u e m.

sideir mafav. tander scr w b9 1 n tenets he adapter Qonsi ts f: only t ha a h, e ira -lst ons r cte o heet etal; th re:

y W riot n heerne s romth te d e'iht c ma l nd manu actur an nd n the tt r ls atl' which dua ty com ensa es t r pe a in ar s i h da te -l mp as e bly and, at the same time, avoiding aking. strains being imposed upon the larnpum The present adapter is intended for use with that type of headlight in which, the casing is rigidly attached to a part of the, vehicle, such as the fender; and another Object of the: inyen: tion is to provide a construction that facilitates adjustment ofthelamp unit relative to the headlightcasing for aiming the un it so as to properly direct its light beams along the highway, and which construction also enables a damagedgor defective unit to be easily a quickly without disturbing" the aiming ustment.

bodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein Fig. l is a front elevation of a headlight structure incorporating my improvements, with a part of the rim of such structure broken away to disclose certain features ad nter o sist ns Q r flW. r sth tare an i r a hr ties a ma ber esenti e he Q0.

7 he foregoing objects ar attained in the ernof, the adapter; Fig. 2 is. a. firtagmentarycside. elevation ot the. headlight structure with certain partsin central. verticalisection and. other parts forward of the plane. of; section broken away; Fig. 3 is a, sectional detail of the adapter and thepart of thecasing. to which it is attached in. separated condition; Rig. 4 is a fragmentary, front elevation ofv the casing, with the bolt-receivingiastener in section; andFig 5 isa sectional detail-through the adapter andflamp, unit assembly, the in cluded portion ofv said unit beingl in elevation and the plane or section through the adapter bemg central of are positioninglug, as indicatedby the line 5--5 of-Fig 2 Y In the drawing, the headlight casing is designated I, and the riin.2, these fleeing the partsof the original headlight structure. that :are' retained for association with the adapteriof the present inven-' tion Thecasing I is open at its front end Where it is surrounded. by a. flange 3 adjacent'which the casing is provided with an external groove t that receives the. inwardly curledJreaLend of the rim 2: when said rim is contracted. about thetront of. the casing/by means of the screw 51 Spaced about the flange 3 are voids 6: (Eigs. 3 and 4,), shown as notches that open through. the inner edge of the flange, and in many. cases these voids ar present in the original structure. However,

' in their absence, the flange of a casing. to which the adapter is to be applied may be punched; drilled or notched to provide the voidsfi. To the flange 3 over each 'of s'aid'iioids, is applied fastener 3, desirably of the kind known'to the trade as a clip type 'speednutflthe same consisting of a U-shaped piece of resilient strapmetal-ha'ving an opening'a in one flange, and a slot in the other frond" whichj'bolt engaging tongues I'll are ans The adapter includes a retainerring that is designatedenerallyby 't he referents nimreral; l5, the same'consis'ting' of a substantially cylindrical wall It from the forward end of which exten s inwardly a front flange Il and from 'the'oppos'ite end of which extends outwardly a rearrange 1B; paced 'c i rci nnferentially about the rear fl ange is are'l iol'e'sdil jthe seeping of; said'holes cane: spo sing to metal, and to impart stiffness to the adapter ring that: the voids Bin the range 3. V

the same is provided adjacent its inner edge with a, rearwardly extending flange 22.

In making the installation, the lamp unit, designated A, is first clamped in the adapter, and the adapter-lamp assembly is then attached to the casing. The connection between said assembly and the casing is made solely through the means of bolts 25 and the aforesaid fasteners 8. The bolts 25 are first engaged rearwardly through the holes 2| of the adapter ring 29. The reflector part a of the lamp unit is then projected through the retainer ring, after which the adapter ring is placed over the front end of the lamp unit so that the peripheral bead a of said unit is confined between the front flange I! of the retainer ring [5 and the opposed portion of the adapter ring 20. Screws 21, desirably of the kind known as sheet metal screws, are projected freely through holes in the rear flange I8 of the retainer ring and are threadedly engaged in holes in the adapter ring, said screws serving to cut the threads in the Walls of the latter holes as they are driven therethrough, according to the customary action of screws of the kind mentioned.

It is to be noted in particular that the diame ter of the holes [9 in the rear flange of the retainer ring i5 is slightly less than the diameter of theheads of the bolts 25. Consequently, when the two rings are drawn firmly together by the screws 21, the bolts 25 are swiveled to the adapter-lamp assembly. Now, with the fasteners 8 applied to the flange 3 of the casing l, the adapter, with the lamp unit clamped therein, may be attached to the casing simply by projecting the three screws through the fasteners 8, and because of the nature of said fasteners, this can be done without turning the screws. With the installation thus made, the lamp unit may be aimed so as to properly direct its beam along the highway, by turning the bolts 25. As will be noted, one of the bolts is arranged on substantially the vertical axis of the casing, in the present instance adjacent the top side thereof, while the other two bolts 25 are located on opposite sides of the casing near the bottom. Because of a definite location of the voids 6, this positions the adapter in a given relation to the casing; and,

inturn, the lamp unit A is properly positioned within the adapter by the engagement of each of its locating lugs a in a recess 30 of the adapter ring 20, as shown in Fig. 5. Although but one 10- cating lug a appears in the views of the drawing, usually thereare three spaced irregularly about the bead a each flanked by two bearing bosses There will, of course, be a corresponding number of recesses 30. Each recess 30 is preferably produced by radially slitting the ring 20 at points spaced apart circumferentially of the ring a distance about equal to the width of a 10- cating lug and pressing the material between the slits rearwardly. The portions of the adapter ring at the sides of each recess engage the adjacent bearing bosses a*.

After the adapter has been adjusted to effect proper aiming of the lamp unit, the rim 2 is engaged over the front of the casing and is drawn up tightly about the same by means of the screw 5, thereby to conceal and protect all pafts of the adapter-lamp assembly excepting the front portion of the retainer ring and the lens portion a of the lamp unit.

I filed concurrently with this application, two other applications relating to the same subject matter of invention. These bear Serial Nos. 576,938 and 576,936 and are entitled, respectively, Lamp adapter for headlights and Adapter for headlights.

Having thus described my claim is:

An adapter for attaching a lamp unit of the type described to an open front headlight casing having a flange surrounding its forward end and which flange is in a, plane substantially normal to the axis of the casing and is Provided with voids spaced apart circumferentially thereof, and said lamp unit being characterized by a circumferential bead and a locating lug extending rearwardly from said bead, the casing being constructed to engage with larger lighting means than the aforesaid lamp unit and having a cover ring for enclosing said flange; the adapter comprising a retainer ring having a substantially cylindrical wall, a front flange extending inwardly from the forward end of said wall and a rear flange extending outwardly from the opposite end thereof, the front flange of the retainer ring being in the frontal plane of the headlight casing when completely assembled and being adapted to bridge the gap between the cover ring and the lamp unit, an adapter ring arranged rearwardly of the retainer ring with its inner edge portion in opposed relation to said front flange, the adapter ring and the rear flange of the retainer ring having aligned holes corresponding in number and spacing with the voids in the flange of the casing, headed bolts projected rearwardly through the holes in the adapter ring and having their heads disposed between said ring and the rear flange of the retainer ring and exposed through the holes in said flange for the application of a tool to said heads, the rear flange of the retainer ring and the adapter ring having other sets of aligned holes, screws extending freely through the last mentioned holes of the rear flange of the retainer ring and threadedly engaged through the corresponding holes in the adapter ring, the lamp unit being adapted to be arranged with its circumferential bead clamped between the front flange of the retainer ring and the opposed portion of the adapter ring, the latter ring having a recess for the reception of the locating lug of the lamp unit, and U-shaped metal clips secured to the aforesaid flange of the casing over the voids therein and in which the rear end portions of the aforesaid bolts are threadedly engaged.

DAVID M. MORGENS'I'ERN.

invention, what I REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,138,075 Taylor et al Nov. 29, 1938 2,218,326 Anklam Oct. 15, 1940 2,266,329 Mead et al. Dec. 16, 1941 2,285,591 Larsen June 9, 1942 2,302,494 'Falge Nov. 17, 1942 

